Bellport, NY – Metro LI USSSA and the B45 bat company teamed up for their second annual Wood Bat qualifier at Bellport Complex, in Brookhaven, NY this Saturday and for the second straight year, Empire/Romanelli Bros Softball came out on top against Faddy Malone’s/Elite.

This time around, coach Jimmy Hughes’ Empire squad had to battle back from a rough start, after dropping the opening game to AUIT/Kings Reign/C&S Corp/TYJA 12-5.  Empire was fortunate to get right back in the saddle as they took the field to face Pipe and came away with a 9-1 victory.    They capped off their pool play round with a 10-2 defeat of AMC/TYJA to finish 1st in Pool A.

In Pool B, Faddy Malone’s faced a similar slow start as they opened their day with a 2-1 loss to Tom Emanski’s All Stars.  They came right back to down Short Bus 8-1, and completed their pool p;lay round by defeating the surprise team of the tourney, Plumbers Local 1, 5-4 in nine innings to complete their pool play round as the top seed in Pool B.

After defeating Empire, AUIT fell to AMC/TYJA. but came back to beat Pipe in their final pool play game to advance to the single elimination playoff bracket to face Faddy Malone’s.

Although they dropped a close game to Faddy Malone’s, Plumbers Local 1 advanced to the playoff bracket on the strength of two early wins against Short Bus/TYJA & Tom Emanski’s All Stars.

In the playoff bracket, Empire & Faddy Malone’s held serve as the top seeds by knocking off their respective opponents and forcing a rematch of the 2011 finals.   Empire once again came out on top, knocking off Faddy Malone’s 10-6 and moving to withing 25 points of the lead in the Metro Super Series Standings.  CJ China was named tournament MVP.

Teams will look to our Memorial Day Weekend Annual Supplied Bat tournament sponsored by All Out Sports as their next chance to pick up Super Series points, as teams continue to vie for a spot in the Super Series championship.  Memorial Day Weekend will offer double-points for those who enter and will feature some exciting events and prizes.  Keep tuned to our website and Facebook page for all the details.

B45 Wood Bat Supplied Tournament

Looking for our First Junior Champ!

The time has finally arrived! USSSA Junior Golf has made it to Long Island and we are looking to crown our first “Junior Champion”. The champion in each category will earn a berth to the USSSA Junior Golf National Championships. The National Championships will be held in Champions gate in Davenport Florida July 27th, 28th & 29th. Champion’s gate course is home to David Leadbetter’s Golf Academy and is a spectacular resort. For more information about the course check out the website: http://www.championsgategolf.com/

The opportunity is there for junior golfers of all skill levels to be part of something big. Since the first few tournaments will be new to the island, the pool of players will be small and manageable. We will have several staff members on location to pay close attention to each golfer and assess their skill level. The 2012 inaugural season will serve as the greatest opportunity to reach the Junior Golf National Championships.

Global Recreation Network was established in 2011 with one goal in mind, to treat aamateurs like professionals and ensure each participant has an experience they will never forget. As with our youth baseball tournament, GRN will have a professional photographer and videographer at all of our junior golf events and will follow each participant throughout the tour. Each golfer will be interviewed that will stream live on the internet and a pre and post tournament story will also be streamede on our website. Each player will be treated and feel like a professional golfer.

Sign up today! Click here to register for the 2012 Junior Golf Season. (Includes a free USSSA Golf Wind Shirt).

Click here to register online for the April 28-29 Golf Tour at Mill Pond

Click here to register for the May 19-20 at Smithtown Lading

Click here to register for the June 2-3 TBD

BillyBattsB&G/TYJA - Champions

Commack, NY – As Long Island is experiencing severe drought conditions, one of the worst things you can do is start a fire outdoors. Don’t tell that to the crew of BillyBattsB&G/TYJA softball though, as they looked to scorch the fields of Flynn Park in Commack.

After sitting out Day one of the Metro LI USSSA Kickoff Qualifier(s) weekend, Coach P.J. Periera and his squad hit the field with a first round bye and got a quick start, chasing their first tournament championship of the season. Their first game was against a surprise opponent in the Rusty Dawgs.  A relative newcomer to the tournament sect, the Rusty Dawgs came out and shocked Abeetza Pizza/Tooschmals with a 12-5 win in the first round, before running into the BillyBatts boys.  BillyBatts knocked off the Rusty Dawgs 12-6 to setup a matchup with what looks to be a developing rival in Iced/TYJA on the Blue Field.

Iced was coming off two big wins, the first, a run rule of Dirty Laundry/Ken Korthright Agency, which was followed by a surprising 15-13 upset of one of the tournament favorites, Empire/Romanelli Bros. Softball.  Following those two early victories, Iced came up against BillyBatts and both teams battled back and forth in a low scoring affair, with BillyBatts emerging with a 10-9 extra inning win courtesy of a bases loaded walk to Artie Larocca.  The loss took the steam out of the Iced squad, who couldn’t regroup and found themselves being knocked out by the K of C Royals  11-6.

Meanwhile, in the top half of our bracket, AMC/TYJA was busy squeaking out wins from two of the hottest teams around.  After a first round bye, AMC was able to squeak by the Short Bus/TYJA team with a 15-14 win, to setup a rematch of the semifinal from the previous day versus Faddy Malone’s/Worth/Elite.  AMC was able to take down Coach Leon Curiel’s Faddy’s squad with a 14-12 win moving them into the Winner’s Bracket final to face BillyBatts.

At the same time, on the Yellow field, the Empire squad was facing a disappointing 0-2 finish as they headed into the bottom 7^th down 5.  Empire looked to be running out of time, after All Out LFer Andrew Caramico made a sliding catch to secure the 2^nd out of the inning.  However, Empire eeked out a one run win 15-14, to move on to face Faddy Malone’s in the Loser’s Bracket quarterfinals.  Empire carried their momentum from the win over All Out, and easily knocked off Faddy Malone’s and the K of C Royals to move their way into the Loser’s Bracket finals, to await the loser from the BillyBatts, AMC game.

As the winds began to kick up, defense and timely hitting became key with the remainder of the games being on the Red field at Flynn. The young BillyBatts squad managed to hold down the veteran AMC team, and win 8-7 as the #3 & 4 hitters came up with the tying run on base for AMC in the last inning.

This moved AMC into the Loser’s Bracket final to face longtime rival Empire.  AMC shook off the rust that felled them in their previous game as they cooled off the Empire bats with a 20-12 win setting up a finals rematch with BillyBatts.  The one game break didn’t seem to affect BillyBatts as they came out hot and held off a late AMC rush, thanks to a big two run single by MVP Kevin Stanton in the bottom of the 6^th and helping BillyBatts pull out a 12-10 win.

One thing is for sure, 2012 looks to be a tremendously competitive season and the chase for the Metro Super Series Championship is sure to be tight all season.  We’ve already witnessed a variety of winners and wonder what might be in store for us at the next few events.  We hope to see you all at the B45 wood bat qualifier on May 12^th, and of course don’t forget the upcoming Memorial Day Supplied Bat tournament, sponsored by All Out Sports.

For a look at today’s complete bracket, check out this link

Check back later in the week for the updated Super Series Standings

Shirley, NY – Metro LI USSSA officially kicked off its 8^th season of softball tournament excitement with our annual Kickoff Qualifier, this year held at the Airport Complex ion Shirley, NY.   12 teams took the field on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to open what should be another exciting softball campaign for Long Island’s travel teams.

3 C teams, 5 D teams and 4 E teams combined to form 4 pools for the opening rounds of pool play.  The event kicked off on Field #1 with the Island’s top “C” team DGC Softball squaring off against the reunited Force squad.  DGC has already gotten a big jump on the local competition with 2 early tournament wins.  The Force is looking to get their bearings as they regroup in 2012 after an up-and-down 201 season that saw the team fold midway through the year.  DGC emerged victorious with a hard fought 12-10 win.   Our other 8am games saw, the Spartans/Nationwide Insurance team take out the Bad Rocks, which featured some excellent veterans such as Dave Norval and Fred Stahman, 18-12 on Field #7.  AMC/TYJA dominated Faddy Malone’s/Worth/Elite 21-9 on Field #8.

The 9:10am games saw Empire/Romanelli. Bros, Spring Training Series Champion and Metro Super Series “D” leaders, kicking off their day on Field #7 against the veteran BadRocks team.  Empire overcame a few defensive lapses and held off the Bad Rocks boys 7-4, behind the stellar pitching and leadership of Rob Bono.  Over on Field #1, Pancho Villas face off against newcomers Abeetza Pizza/Tooschmals.  Pancho’s came out with a strong performance with a dominant 34-19 win.  Over on Field #8, AMC/TYJA finished off their second pool play game with a win over Dirty Laundry/Ken Korthright Agency 13-11.  

In the 10:20am timeslot, as the temperatures started to warm up, so did the teams as we had two hard fight down to the wire wins with Faddy Malone’s downing Dirty Laundry 13-11 and Short Bus/TYJA, the leaders in the “E” Metro Super Series standings upset DGC, 11-9.   Over on Field #1, Pancho Villa’s cruised to a 2-0 pool play record handing tournament sponsors All Out a resounding 29-11 defeat in another C vs E match.

At 11:30, the final round robin games took place, as teams wondered what the seedings would be the for the bracket play.   Empire went into their matchup with Spartans knowing a win of 12 or more runs would solidify the top seed in the D bracket, and they went out and locked it up with a 24-11 win led by the cool, calm and collected performance of pitcher Pete Duffy.    The final 2 games proved to be nail biters and potential bracket busters all at once as Abeetza Pizza faced off with All Out and The Force squared off with Short Bus.  The Pizza boys held off All Out 20-19 and Short Bus continued their winning ways with a 14-13 come from behind win over The Force, setting the stage for an exciting round of bracket games.

The “E” bracket featured #1 seed Short Bus facing #4 seed All Out and #2 seed Spartans vs #3 seed Dirty Laundry.   In the first game, underdog All Out turned a little pre-game adversity into a momentum as they came out swinging and put up 8 runs in the top of the first.  Short Bus struggled offensively throughout trying to mount a comeback, but some strong defense provided them with a spark as they held All Out scoreless for the next 6 innings. Short Bus finally managed to tie up the game and sent it into extra innings, but All Out would not be denied as they held on for a one run win in 9 innings, knocking off the top seeded Short Bus squad.  In game #3 seeded Dirty Laundry followed the lead of All Out and knocked off the higher seeded Spartans team to setup a 3 vs 4 final.  In the finals, All Out carried their momentum on to a stellar defensive game, and despite 3 offensive ejections, All Out pulls out their first tournament victory of the season with a 6-1 win over Dirty Laundry.

In the “C” bracket on field #1, DGC Softball soundly defeated Bad Rocks in the semifinals 13-3 to setup a matchup with Pancho Villa’s in the finals.  These two teams are sure to be seeing a lot of each other throughout the year, and DGC looks to establish dominance after winning their first matchup earlier in the season by 2 runs, DGC was able to pull a come from behind win in the finals and defeat Panchos 11-9 to capture the “C” bracket and 3^rd tournament championship for coach Tony DiCoio and the boys.

In the “D” bracket, The Force came out on fire with a mercy killing over Abeetza Pizza 18-1 in the 4/5 matchup, setting up a matchup with top seeded Empire.  #2 seeded AMC/TYJA, came off a long rest to square off in a rematch from earlier in the day against #3 Faddy Malone’s.  Although they were able to put up 17 runs, the Faddy Malone’s bats were too strong for AMC as they secured a 26-17 win and a spot in the finals.  In the other semifinal, top seeded Empire look to shake off the rust of a long wait as well against The Force who were looking to carry some momentum from their big quarterfinal win.  The tournament saw yet another upset as The Force knocked off Empire 16-10 setting up a final round match with Faddy Malone’s.  Faddy’s jumped out early and took a 15-7 lead into the top of the 6^th inning, but The Force came storming back with 7 runs in the sixth to make it a one run game.  Faddy’s added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, and hoped it would hold up.  Coach Leon Curiel sat on the edge of his seat in the seventh inning as pitcher Joe Hermann was able to get the first two outs.  The Force battled back with a two out run, but was unable to get the tying run across and Faddy Malone’s locked up a 16-15 victory and champions of the D bracket.

DGC Softball "C" Tournament Champs

Faddy Malone's/Worth Elite "D" Tournament Champs

All Out "E" Tournament Champions

Check out our Youth Baseball Page for interviews and analysis on all the tournament action, by clicking here or just click the Youth Baseball header at the top of the page

GRN presents the 2012 USSSA Junior Golf Tour! 

Global Recreation Network welcomes you to join our Junior Golf Championship Tour.  Boys & Girls in 3 age categories will battle for a chance at a spot in the USSSA Junior Golf National Tour Championship at Mystic Dunes in Orlando, FL.  Check out our tournament schedule below and if you have any questions about Global Recreation Network or USSSA Junior Golf, please contact us.  We hope you’ll look to try the newest experience in Junior Golf on Long Island.

Global Recreation Network introduces the 2012 USSSA Junior Golf Tour!

• Sat-Sun  April 28-29              USSSA Tour Kickoff Qualifier

• Sat-Sun  May 19-20                USSSA Spring Tour Qualifier

• Sat-Sun June 2-3                     USSSA Summer Last Chance Tour

• USSSA Junior Golf National Championship Weekend:   Orlando, Fl

• Sat-Sun  August 25-26            USSSA  2013 National Kickoff

• Sat-Sun  September 29-30     GRN Fall Harvest Tour

• Sat-Sun  October 27-28          Long Island Championship Tour

Sponsored by All Out Sports

Metro LI USSSA will officially kickoff the season with our 8th annual Season Kickoff Qualifier.  On Saturday, April 14th, the Town of Brookhaven will play host to teams from all across Long Island who will be looking to set the tone for a spirited race towards the Metro LI USSSA Super Series Championship.  

This 3 game guarantee tournament will feature a round robin pool play format, followed by single elimination bracket play and will be open to Men’s C, D & E teams as well as Coed teams.

Prizes will be provided by All Out Sports, and all teams will earn USSSA points, as well as DOUBLE Metro Super Series points.  

Saturday will also be the first event in the Recreation Team Tournament Series, sponsored by ABA sports.  Recreation teams will have the opportunity to get a taste of the tournament experience against teams of a similar experience level.  This event will take place in Nassau County and allow Recreation teams to get a jump-start on their points pursuit as well.

On Sunday, April 15^th, teams who participated in Saturday’s event will be able to participate in a double-elimination bracket tournament for half price!  This tournament will take place at Flynn Park in Smithtown and give teams another chance at adding to their points total as they chase the opportunity to play in the Metro LI USSSA Super Series Championship.

For more information email vinny@metroliusssa.com or call 631-484-9447.   To register online, click here: REGISTER NOW

Sponsored by ABA Sports

Metro LI USSSA has partnered with ABA Sports, Long Island’s premiere Slowpitch Softball league, to offer recreational teams a chance to play tournaments, without having to face the powerhouse tournament squads.

Recreation Team events will be run concurrently with standard tournaments on the following dates: April 14th, May 26-27th, July 7th & Sept 1st.  The two teams who have accumulated the most Recreation Series points at the end of the Sept. 1st tournament, will square off in a best 3 of 5 series championship on September 8th. The overall winner will receive a FREE 2013 Summer Season League entry fee to ABA Sports and an All Out Sports Prize Package. All Out Sports will offer additional prize packages based on the number of teams that enter the series.

Teams that participate in these events, must be registered with one of Long Island’s USSSA leagues.   The fee for these events will be $330.  (ABA Sports league teams will receive a $50 discount on tournament registrations).  

*Any Recreation Team that plays in regular METRO LI USSSA Tournaments will receive Recreation Series points as well.

If you have any questions about this, or any other Metro LI USSSA event, please contact Vinny at 631-484-9447 or email vinny@metroliusssa.com